Backpacks have long been used for carrying articles on one's back. A traditional backpack design places the load in a bag which has shoulder straps passing over the user's shoulders to support it. In order to access articles in the bag portion, a user must remove the backpack from their shoulders. If a hiker wants to access a camera to take a photograph or binoculars to view something up close, the time to remove the backpack and retrieve the item may cost them the opportunity.
Past attempts to create a backpack that is accessible from the front include packs that have strap arrangements that allow the bag portion to be slid or lifted around the body of a user for access upon removal of a strap. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,403 and 7,316,340, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, are examples of such attempts. However, these may be awkward for the user to manipulate and require the user to have to reposition the shoulder straps.
Other prior attempts include backpacks with a portion that can be detached from the main bag and flipped over a wearer to the front. For example, US Patent Application Publication 2007/0295774, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety, discloses a backpack with a detachable “flip” bag that can be brought forward over user's shoulder. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,681,169, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a backpack consisting of a harness secured to a user with a moveable compartment which is secured on a user's back when stowed, but can be rotated over the user's head to an accessible front position. The systems of the '169 patent is elaborate and both it and the system of the '774 Publication have the shortcoming that items placed in the movable compartment or flip bag are inverted when brought in front of the wearer, placing the contents therein upside down when compared to the carrying position.
A backpack that used a simple mechanism to allow a user to access the contents thereof from the front without removing the backpack would be an improvement in the art. Such a backpack that provided this access without inverting the storage portion of the backpack would be a further improvement in the art.